Past continuous
a. Use
The Past Continuous tense is used to express continuous, ongoing actions which took place in the past. In the following examples, the verbs in the Past Continuous tense are in italics.
e.g. He was traveling in Europe last summer.
They were playing tennis yesterday afternoon.
The Past Continuous tense is frequently used to refer to an ongoing action which was taking place when something else occurred in the past.
e.g. I was washing the dishes when the telephone rang.
We were entertaining friends when the parcel arrived.
In the first example, the use of the Past Continuous tense indicates that the action of washing the dishes was taking place at the time when the telephone rang. In the second example, the use of the Past Continuous tense indicates that the action of entertaining friends was taking place at the time when the parcel arrived.
b. Formation
The Past Continuous tense is formed from the Simple Past of the auxiliary to be, followed by the present participle of the verb. For example, the Past Continuous of the verb to work is conjugated as follows:
I was working
you were working
he was working
she was working
it was working
we were working
they were working
Exercises to be done :
http://www.english-4u.de/past_prog_ex1.htm
http://www.kico4u.de/english/uebungen/7klasse/paprog1.htm
http://www.kico4u.de/english/uebungen/aktiv/mixed2.htm
http://www.esl-lounge.com/student/grammar/2g39-past-continuous-gap-fill.php
Jazz chant 14 :
http://www.onestopenglish.com/skills/listening/jazz-chants/mp3-files-and-recording-scripts/
John Lennon " A Jealous guy "
http://www.etni.org.il/jealousguy.htm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6lLs2dC9NaE&feature=related
